Kenny x Craig: Escape
by IWouldBeSoHappy
Summary: After dealing with abuse of all kinds their whole lives... this fanfict centers around Kenny McCormick and Craig Tucker running away from South Park along with their younger sisters. This is an idea I've had in mind for awhile. The credit for Craig's POV goes to my friend, Autumn. Chapters will be separated between our replies since this is originally being done as a roleplay.
1. Abuse

Every day is always the same, except it gets worse as time goes on. There's not a day that the children of the McCormick family didn't have to deal with their abusive parents. It was mainly their father, Stuart, not as much as their mother… at least physically. She was more prone to abusing them verbally. Their father on the other hand, was very brutal when it came to punishments, especially when he was drunk, which unfortunately was the case 99 percent of the time. Kevin, the oldest brother, who was now 21 years old, was lucky enough to escape their bullshit since he legally was an adult now. Like that mattered though since he ran away at 17. Unlike Karen and Kenny, who were still legally minors, had to keep living with it... only because Kenny didn't know if he could succeed running away due to having to take Karen along with. There was no way he'd leave her alone with their parents, so that plan was out of the question. Karen was only 13, so she recently hit the mark of becoming a teenager. Kenny was 17, only one year away from being a legal adult himself like his brother. He was getting tired of being a minor, and actually wanted to grow up so he could get out of the house and take his younger sister along with him, away from the painful environment. He didn't care if he wasn't her parent; he might as well be with how he took care of and protected her. When he was 18 years old it would be so much easier to get away with it, but for now… he was still just a kid in any adult's eyes. The police would catch him and send him back home.

 **…**

"This is getting ridiculous…" The youngest son of the McCormick's grumbled to himself, forcing his body out of his so called 'bed'. It was more like sleeping on a brick. The mattress was extremely worn; sheet-less, stiff as hell, and his blanket compared in the same way; torn and too small for his body. He'd had this bed since he was at the most… 5 years old. Kenny had lived here his whole life, ever since he was an infant. The cracks on the walls and squeaky floorboards were a constant reminder as Kenny stepped out of bed that his family home and life was absolutely disgusting and unstable. He had been woken up to the usual morning routine that consisted of waking up to his parents screaming and yelling, and Karen watching or listening to it all unfold silently in fear… or at least she tried to be quiet. Kenny often woke up and peered into her bedroom to find her crying… but this morning was different. **It was a terrible different.**

…

When Kenny peeked into Karen's room through one of the cracks in the door, he saw his sister doing the unthinkable. She had a pointed shard of glass in her hand, probably from a broken beer bottle off the floor. Kenny couldn't believe his eyes. Was she self harming? Or was it… no, it couldn't be! He knocked on the door using a certain secret knock that he and Karen had come up with over the years so they knew who/what to expect when they opened the door. As expected, the knock startled her and she froze, staring at the door like a deer in headlights. She didn't just look frightened, but guilty as well. That one expression said it all… Kenny didn't need to know anything else to understand the situation.

" _ **Karen…"**_

…

It's been a few hours since Kenny had caught Karen red-handed with the shard of glass. Kenny had a serious, yet heartfelt talk with Karen about what she had been planning on doing. She cried the entire time, clinging onto her older brother while shaking helplessly. It was hard for Kenny not to start crying too, but he knew that he needed to be strong for his younger sibling. She looked up to him. He was all she had. She nearly took her life because of all the shit their parents put them through. And poor Karen thought that SHE was a burden… that SHE was the problem. Kenny couldn't take it anymore. This was NOT Karen's fault… not ever.

 **…**

And that was the day Kenny McCormick decided he was going to take Karen and run away from home… to run away from South Park, Colorado. There really was no point in staying. The town was never really much of a home. The people were all hypocritical assholes. There were about three people Kenny could still stand, and those people were Kyle Broflovski , Stan Marsh and Craig Tucker; but… Kyle was always busy with school. As everyone in town knew, he's the top student in the state. He even graduated high school early and is now taking college classes; meanwhile Kenny was still a senior in high school. Stan was all over the place. He'd finally reached his main goal in life, and that was to become a professional football player. He had received a scholarship about a month or so ago, leaving Kenny the odd one out. He was surprised he hadn't just dropped out of school already like both his parents did. Maybe he hadn't done so since he didn't want to follow in their footsteps… not even a little bit. The very thought made him ill to his stomach. Stan also was too busy with all his sports meets and STILL fighting for Wendy Testaburger's heart. The guy really needed to let her go, seriously, but he never listened despite how correct everyone was about the relationship being unhealthy. As for Craig, Kenny never had any problems with the guy. Of course, there was that one time when they were in elementary school where they had gotten him deported out of the United States when guinea pigs were taking over the world. Kenny still felt bad for his friends' stupid idea to take Craig's birthday money to form a Peruvian flute band. It had to be one of the dumbest ideas they'd ever had, and Kenny felt idiotic to this very day for going through with it. For some reason, Craig tolerated Kenny… or so the raven called it. He never really admitted to liking Kenny around, but something told him that Craig definitely didn't mind. Over time, Kenny started to feel close to him… closer to him than anyone relationship wise. No, they hadn't been together… as much as Kenny dreamed about it. He didn't know how Craig would respond if he found out about his crush. He didn't want to lose Craig. He was his best friend… or so that's how he viewed it as of right now. One day, he hoped to call that Tucker kid his boyfriend… and not just for the sake of fucking, but for the sake of affection and love.

"Meet me at Stark's Pond right now." Kenny sent Craig an audio text with his cracked iPhone 5. The blonde was already at the Pond, expecting Craig to show up. Kenny never sent audio messages unless he was really serious. Normally he was too lazy to even text people back. Craig should know that, and Kenny hoped he did because he needed to tell him about the plan to run away. He wouldn't hold back… He no longer cared that he could get in trouble with the police and possibly forced back home. He couldn't live like this anymore and he couldn't bear to see Karen cry any longer. She deserved happiness… but other than Karen, Kenny also cared for Craig just as much. He didn't want to leave the guy here without at least telling him his plan. And if Kenny was lucky, Craig would agree to coming along with. That… was another topic he planned bringing up at the Pond.


	2. Rendezvous

The Tucker boy hadn't planned on doing much that day. He played with Stripe, cleaned and reorganized the guinea pig's cage so his pet wouldn't get bored, how considerate. The raven haired boy laid across his bed and grabbed his chullo hat, pulled it on, but tugged the strings down, so the hat covered his eyes therefore preventing his sight. It was a wonder that hat was even wearable anymore. He'd had it since they were all kids; Stan, Kyle, Kenny, and himself. Stan's still kept his infatuation with Wendy and his professional football career showed promise, and Kyle was taking college courses.. who knew the Jew was so smart? Kenny was doing whatever Kenny did.. no one really wanted to know what went on behind closed doors at the McCormick's home (if it could even be referred to as that), and as for Craig, not much..just school, and it was boring as Hell. It seemed like their group of friends were all drifting away from one other; each was setting out on his own separate path (or still trying to figure that path out)... Yet, it hadn't seemed like that would /ever/ happen, not with all the shenanigans they had gotten into as kids. Friends forever, right? Totally, heh.

Craig adjusted his hat slightly so he could see, as he heard his younger sister Ruby turn on some music in her room, but didn't bother to get up and irritate or tease her about whatever she was listening to. It would've seemed amusing to do so maybe a year or two before, but the seventeen year old had much better things to do... which apparently consisted of watching Stripe run around his cage and play random games on his iPhone while listening to music. He had such an exciting life, geez. He was so tired of the same usual routine every day: school, homework, occasionally irritating Ruby, chores, dinner, sleep, annnddd repeat. It sucked.

He dreaded when his dad got home from work, it was never good. His father, Thomas, was abusive to his mom, his sister and of course, Craig too, as if he would be the exception. At first, his dad just seemed angry, and yelled harsh insults and complaints about anyone, anything, and everything. After time the abuse escalated.. to breaking and throwing things around, and when that wasn't enough for him, he started taking his frustration out on his family. Such a family man, right? More like a sorry excuse for a father figure. He began with slapping Laura, or Ruby, whoever was closest in reach, but Craig wouldn't stand for that. He couldn't stand by and watch his mom and sister beg for it to stop through tears. He had to protect his mom, and his little sister, he had to be strong for them even if he got hurt himself. His dad concluded that apparently Craig thought he was such a big-shot that no matter what Thomas dished out Craig could, 'shut up and take it like a man' and beat him til he was black and blue. Craig eventually got used to the pain, mainly by 'grinning and bearing it,' as some would say. No one noticed the slight winces Craig gave if he moved a certain way, it was probably for the best that they didn't. His chest, back, and abdomen were usually covered in yellowish, bluish-black bruises. He hated his dad.. well he absolutely hated how Thomas treated them all.

He picked up his phone and checked the time: 5:37 PM. His dad would be home soon. Shit. He started to toss his phone back on the mattress but stopped to check the notification concerning an audio text from Kenny. "How strange.." Craig muttered to himself, given that Kenny and himself didn't speak much, let alone texted back and forth with any consistency. He paused the song and listened to the recording. Kenny obviously meant business by the tone in his voice, so Craig texted back, "I'll be there ASAP," and pulled on his shoes, and grabbed his blue jacket. He started to leave, but knocked on Ruby's door, saying quite loudly, to be heard above the music, "Hey Ruby- order pizza or something, I'll be home later. There's a twenty shoved under the door." He knelt down to place the twenty in between the door and the carpet, after that he left. He walked to Stark's Pond and called out, "Hey Kenny- where are ya? I got your text." He wasn't much for socializing so Kenny better've been serious, he sure seemed like it anyway.


	3. Flashbacks

It felt like Kenny came here every day. In fact, he hadn't gotten a break from all the abuse in the past week or so. His parents usually weren't ALWAYS out of control... but as of lately that seemed to have been changing. Instead of beating Kenny and Karen when they were drunk and/or high, it happened when they were sober as well. Kenny had to protect Karen countless times. There was even a point where their father had removed his metal belt and threatened Karen with it. Kenny had never seen her look so frightened, and that fear should never had been there, especially when it came from the sight of her own father baring a belt.

That night was another event that pushed Kenny towards wanting to run away from South Park. He unfortunately just needed another push before deciding to leave. He wished he hadn't have waited... because then maybe Karen wouldn't have considered inflicting self-harm onto herself. Kenny easily found himself drowning in these different memories, the flashbacks taking over all of the activity within his mind. He didn't realize it, but he was visibly shaking. "Karen..." He mumbled softly, his hands curling into fists. He remembered more than just the fear in Karen's eyes the night the belt was brought out. He remembered lunging out in front of her to guard her body from the belt making any contact to her flesh. As a result, Mr. McCormick only grew more furious and began cursing violently and smacking Kenny repeatedly with the belt. It pierced his skin, eating at it... and eventually causing blood to gush out in multiple areas of his flesh. Kenny had gone through much worse, but that still didn't mean the pain couldn't exist. He didn't care though; not when this could have happened to Karen. He'd do anything for his little sister... anything.

It took the blonde teen a couple of moments to snap out of his daze before he had noticed Craig had finally arrived. He could have arrived faster, but this was good enough. At least he showed up... that's what mattered. Kenny shook his head and sighed, rather ashamed for letting himself get so warped into what happened previous nights ago. It wouldn't matter soon. He'd run away... and with the ones that mattered most to him. "Tucker! Over here!" The blonde exclaimed, jumping up to his feet. He was across the pond from where Craig was standing, so decided to wave around his hands in hopes he'd stand out so it'd be easier to spot him. It was hard not to- with the slightly vibrant orange parka after all.


End file.
